Changes
by Bruiser
Summary: Can Max stand up to defeat White's Cult? New Chapters loaded.
1. Transgenic

DARK ANGEL  
  
"Grab some gasoline on the way. We need some more to keep the back up generator running. Greg, look for some more scrap metal. John needs more to fix the gate. How are we doing outside?" Max asked as she ran down the latest inventory check.   
"Aight I guess. Pretty sleepy out there. Notin's movin' very much." Theo said looking at the monitor. Theo was an unusual looking guy even though most transgenics looked a little odd. His nose and mouth protruded from his face. He had large ears and small hands and feet. Manticore had mixed him with mouse and he came out a little odd. He has a love for cheese and trinkets. "Wait a minute, Max. There's somethin' movin'at the corner of the west end gate."  
Max grabbed her radio as she stared at the monitor. "Hey westy, you see anything over at your end?"  
A voice came out of the little black radio. It was loud and scratchy. Mike probable was now on shift. "Nah Max, nothin. Why? Something showing up on the screen?"   
"Yeah, keep your eyes out. Whatever it is, it seems to want in. Call back in if you see anything. Over." Max dropped the radio back into her pocket and stared at the screen. Whatever it is, it moves fast. Then suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared from the screen. "This thing moves fast. I'm wondering if it is a transgenic. But if it is, then why would it be sne..."  
She spun fast sensing something behind her. At first she couldn't believe her eyes, how could it be? I thought he was gone and safe. I thought he couldn't remember. Why is he back? Slowly she came out of shock and then fear crept in. "Zack?"  
He looked at her with his crystal blue eyes. His eyes were mixed with sadness and anger. "Why did you lie to me? I knew that I knew you. It took me a while. Why did you tell me that you didn't know me? Why'd you leave me out there with those people?"  
"Zack, it was for your own protection..." Max replied. Her heart ached, things would get violent again. He'd think he loved her and then he'd go after Logan who was no where to be found. Logan ran off with Asha two weeks back. He said it was too dangerous right now. Max knew the real reason.  
"My protection?" He yelled angrily. His eyes burned with intensity. His voice got quiet and weak. "My protection? More like your lover boy's protection. I can't believe you, after all I've done for you. I died for you. I gave you your life and you lie to me to protect your precious little sweet pea."  
"Zack, I didn't want to hurt you." Max replied trying to calm him down.  
"Yeah, well you already have." he growled bringing out a knife... 


	2. Hazy

DARK ANGEL  
  
"Max? Max? Max wake up." Original Cindy shook her friend. Max had been thrashing in the bunk so hard that OC was afraid that she'd hurt herself. Suddenly Max stopped and the room was quiet. She sat up quickly hitting her head hard on the bunk above her.  
"Ouch." Max grumbled laying back on the bed. She looked up at OC with her dark brown eyes and then spoke. "What?"  
OC shrugged. "I thought I'd wake you before you cracked your head on the wall."  
"Didn't work." she grinned rubbing her head. "That's definitely going to leave a mark."  
"Now when was the last time Original Cindy has ever heard her boo say 'ouch'?" OC asked and then stood up to let Max roll out of bed. "Lets see, I think never. I'll leave you be. I got a bone to pick with Alec. He keeps on nagging me to wake you up."  
"Why, is there something up?" Max asked spinning on her bed so that her feet landed on the floor. Her skin looked paler then usual or maybe it was just Original Cindy's vision. She figured she wouldn't ask.  
"No, he just wanted to bug you to death." OC grinned and then left the room She heard Max let out a long deep sigh.  
  
"Hey Max. You don't look so good." Alec said as Max dragged herself into the kitchen. Her hair was unkempt and there were shadows under her eyes. Usually she was pretty messy, but today was worse. It didn't even look like she had tried to clean herself up. She looked at him as if she were about to say something and then looked away. "Okay, no snappy comeback which means something is wrong. So why don't you spill?"  
Max shrugged grabbing a bowl and pouring some cereal into it. After she poured milk into the bowl and grabbed a spoon, she sat at a table in the corner. Alec walked over to the table and sat.   
After a few minutes of letting her play with her food, Alec had had enough. "Alright, really, what's up? You haven't even yelled at me yet. Also, you look a little under the weather. Talk."  
"There's nothing to say." she replied with a hoarse voice not even taking the time to look up at him.  
"Are you mad at me because I was telling Original Cindy to wake you up? Cause what I had to say was really important at the time. In fact, I had to make the decisions while you were asleep. Now see, there's nothing to be grumpy about." Alec sighed and leaned back in his chair waiting for her to reply.  
She looked at him blankly. "How long was I asleep?"  
"Estimated about two and a half days. I tell ya, didn't know a person could sleep for that long." Alec shook his head with his trademark smirk. He got his legs ready just in case she decided to go after him.  
"How are things running?" She asked with a business tone as she turned to throw away her untouched cereal.  
"Uhhhh... Fine. Aren't ya going to eat that?" Alec asked now worried that she was actually sick.  
She shook her head and left the room leaving Alec stunned.  
  
Hours turned to days and days turned to months. She wasn't even sure what day it was or even what hour it was. Her whole body ached and it felt as if she was sitting on a boiler. Nevertheless, she had to keep going. Going over maps, screens, plans, observations, tactics, and blue prints, everything blended in together. Nothing mattered, nothing brought her out of the fog that her mind was in. Even when bullets flew by her, she didn't snap out of it.  
The voices, all of them were crammed into her head, enough to make her want to scream. But she stayed quiet and on occasion, she listened. All of it was just babble, nothing really made sense. Faces went by her in a blur, faces of people she loved. Faces of people who were no longer with her.  
"Max, are you alright?" a voice asked. She looked over to where the voice came from. The face was blurry, she couldn't tell who it was. "Max? Maybe you should go to bed."  
"No I'm fine." she replied. He voice sounded alien, as if it was someone else's. What was wrong with her?  
"Max, we have it under control. Go to bed. When you're feeling better you can come back in." another voice told her. Then everything went black. There wasn't much difference only a weird feeling that she was falling, but that went away after a little while. The voices still came.  
"Zack?" she asked. His piercing blue eyes came out of the darkness. He smiled and then disappeared. "Zack? Zack! Please come back."  
Then there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. It felt similar to when she had died. Was she dead? Then the voices came loud and clear. They hurt her head. They screamed and cried all at the same time. She was falling again, this time deeper into the black hole. How deep does the rabbit hole go? 


	3. Peaceful Sleep

DARK ANGEL  
  
"She's not moving." Alec said. All his energy was gone. He fell onto the chair behind him and looked at OC questionably. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"  
"I don't know. I thought you had training in Med." OC replied. Alec shrugged and then looked back at Max. They had to chain her to the bed so she wouldn't hurt herself as she screamed and thrashed. Now sweat poured down her forehead as she lay still. The room was so quiet one could hear the sewer rats pattering through the tunnels. He now had time to worry. Had they lost her?  
Original Cindy rubbed a wet towel over her forehead and arms. Suddenly she stopped and looked up at Alec. "Alec come here. You know those markings that were on Max a while back? They're back only they're red now."  
Alec got up quickly and looked. She was right. The same exact markings were back in red. They weren't just red, they were glowing red. Then Max started moving violently again as if the markings were burning her. Alec jumped.  
"Dang Alec, I didn't know you could be so startled. You look as if you just saw a ghost." OC said with a small smirk and then she got serious again.  
"No it was weird. Suddenly I got this image."  
"Image of what?"  
"Of lots of faces. Faces that I remember Max telling me about. Faces that Max grew up with. They were all screaming, some were crying. It was freaky." Alec looked at Max again. That was probable what Max was struggling with. "If we could make them stop, then I bet Max would be better."  
And then things got quiet again. Max's face was contorted with pain. Tears slipped down her face. "Max?"  
"Make it stop." Max whispered. Original Cindy looked at Alec. She was freaked.  
"How do we make it stop?" OC asked more towards Alec then Max.  
"How would I know? I'm not a doctor." Alec said. "Max, how?"  
"Make it stop." Max whispered moving around a little trying to get out of the bonds. "Oh please make it stop."  
"Max, do you hear us? How?" Alec asked desperately. Then a bone-rattling scream came out of her mouth. One that would scare your soul into hiding. A chill ran up and down his spine. Then everything was quiet again. "Max?"  
"She looks like she's asleep." OC said looking at her peaceful face. "I hope that doesn't happen again. Alec nodded rubbing his eyes. It would be a long night. 


	4. Alec?

DARK ANGEL  
  
The light, it was so bright. She blinked twice before being able to see anything. A room, she was in some room. Strangely everything was so clear. Nothing was foggy, there were no faces, no voices, no crying. She could here the generator from a distance and long slow breaths from someone who must be sleeping.  
Her hands and legs were caught on something or maybe they were tied down. Was she back at Manticore? No... she destroyed Manticore. "Hello?"  
Somebody grumbled and sat up. It was Alec. His hair was a mess and the stubble on his face was a couple days old. When he looked over towards her he grinned. Not the kind of smart alec grin that he always gave, but a grin that said he was relieved. "You're awake."  
"Yeah, I had one hell of a ride." she said studying him. "Can you take these ropes off?"  
"Oh yeah. We didn't want you to get hurt or anything." was this the Alec she knew? He took off the bands and helped her sit up. The room started spinning and she lost her balance. The floor came quickly towards her and she hit it with a loud thunk.  
"Ugh. That kinda hurt." she grunted and then rolled over. Alec was over in a second. He tried to help her but she stopped him. "I just lost my balance, I'll be okay."  
Slowly she sat up, except this time she had her hands firmly planted on the ground. When the spinning slowed, Max pulled herself up using the cot as a crutch. Then she fell into bed and sighed.   
"So how long have I been out?" Max asked getting back under the covers.  
"A week." Alec replied. "You want anything? You hungry, thirsty."  
"A week? My God. Who's been running the show? Is everything okay?" Max asked surprised.   
"We've been doing fine, John's got it covered. Right now the activity has been pretty light. In fact, now that I think about it, nothings really happened since you've been out." Alec's forehead knotted and his blue eyes sparkled. It was a face she saw when she was out of it. But it wasn't Alec, it was Ben. She shivered. "So food? Drink?"  
Max looked at him. He was Ben's twin. Ben was frightened, he couldn't deal with being out of Manticore, but some how Alec could. Alec thrived when he became free. Why couldn't Ben be like that?  
"Max?"  
"Oh yeah, I am kinda thirsty."  
"Milk?"  
"Sure."  
  
He sighed. If there was a contest for sighs, his would be the longest ever. How did he get pulled into this mess hole? Everything collapsed once he was free. Everything came down on him. Should he blame Max? He already had, but was it really her fault? If he was her, thank goodness he wasn't, but if..? He would have never taken the route that she had. He'd keep to his own business, not care if others were in trouble. Well, that wasn't exactly true. There was a difference, he wasn't trained in a group.He didn't know what it was to care for some one until Rachael. He didn't even know about family until he began his missions. Then again he didn't really know know about it. He only sort of knew. He hadn't gotten an actual name until Max came along. So should he blame Max? Place the heavy burden on her shoulders?  
That was where the sigh had come from. The light above flickered twice over his head. He hated being trapped in Terminal City, it was so dark it reminded him of Manticore. It's strange, he never really knew he hated Manticore until he was out and free. Maybe that's also why he blamed Max, cause he never really knew he hated Manticore.  
But Max had started this war of Transgenics against Humans. If she had stayed hidden, then none of this would have happened... and he'd still be doing Manitcore's dirty work. Which in that case would be the major trade off.  
"Man, I need to stop." Alec rubbed his head wondering if he was going to go nuts. "Slow down, in fact stop. Don't go there. This is giving me a headache."  
"Hey Alec."  
"Hey Joshua." Alec replied nodding to Joshua. Joshua wasn't to bright of a fellow. In fact he lack the intelligence that most transgenics had. The only thing he had to show was a dog like face and a stronger than human body. Actually, he was stronger than most transgenics.  
"Alec talking to self?" he asked cocking his head to the side like a puppy.  
"Yeah." Alec sighed again, this time shorter. "I'm about to hit the sack."  
"Have a good sleep." Joshua said as he left the room.  
"Yeah, don't worry." Alec grumbled and fell onto a cot. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.  
  
"Hello?" he looked around the room. There was nobody around. The place was empty. Where was he? In the middle of the room there was a couch, a wooden table, and a cold stone fireplace. The room seemed so empty and so cold. He didn't recognize it. "Is anyone here?"  
A young lady, very pale, brown haired blue eyed came into the room. Her eyes looked lost and ghostly.   
"Rachael?" he asked. His voice quivered, more from sadness then from fear. She doesn't look at him, she just looks to the door she came out in. Another girl, her head bowed down so he couldn't see her face, only the dark brown hair, came in. She held her side and limped in. Then she fell.  
Alec ran to the girl and rolled her over. It was Max, her face was bruised and blood ran out of her mouth. Her eyes were soulless and blank. Looking at her side, he quickly looked away. A long bloody gash ran horizontally across her side. She had no pulse. He looked up at Rachael. "Did you do this? Did you kill her?"  
Rachael smiled and laughed. "You killed me. Now I kill her."  
  
He sprang up from his cot. Sweat poured down his face. It was just a dream, a lousy worthless dream... 


	5. Move out!

DARK ANGEL  
  
Original Cindy watched as Max shuffled with some papers on her desk. Only one day had gone by since she had been in bed with a high fever and now she was back to work. OC shook her head and sighed. "Girl, we gotta talk. Only one days rest and you're back on the job."  
Max looked up and gave off a fake smile. "I'm fine. It was just another stupid seizure. Nothing new. There's a lot of work to do. I missed a lot of days."  
"Girl, if this waited a week, why can't it wait another day? We both know that that was no seizure. Take a load off, get some rest..." OC began.  
"I've been resting for a week." Max said now forgetting to be perky.  
"No, you've been sick for a week. I know when my boo's not a hundred percent and she's not a hundred percent right now. Even Alec's taking a day off." she rolled her eyes and leaned in her chair. "Girl, you're going to have a heart attack at the age of twenty-one."  
Max stopped what she was doing and put her head into her hands. Letting out a sigh, she dropped her head letting her fingers comb through her hair. "Zack is the one who should be doing this, not me. I'm not even fit for commanding. I was raised to go under someone else's command."  
"Well boo, whatever you went through while you were out, it was fake. Don't let that get in your head. Zack's gone out on a ranch, you're here." OC reminded her. Max looked up and laughed as if she just realized something was ironic.  
"You know what? Zack's probable against transgenics." Shaking her head, she laughed even harder and then let out another long sigh. "Man oh man, I need to get back to work."  
It was OC's turn to sigh and shake her head. She'd be happy when this war ended.  
  
"Hello?" Max looked around the room. There wasn't anybody near her. Why did she hear footsteps? Ever since she was back, things were strange. It's like she could predict something right before it happened. Like when Original Cindy was about to knock on the door, something in her told her that something was going to happen. Everything made her feel disoriented and off balanced. It wasn't like before how everything was foggy, this time it was so clear.  
Right now she felt it. Something in her head told her someone was coming. The footsteps became louder. Then the door opened and Alec stood in the doorframe with his usual grin. His hair was now combed and his face was cleanly shaven. Max let out her breath. Had she been holding it?  
"I heard you went back to work today." Alec said.  
"Yeah, did you come here to bug me about that? Cause if you did..."  
"No, I heard Original Cindy did that for me." he shrugged and sat on one of the cots. "You look a little freaked. What's up?"  
Max shrugged and fell back on another cot. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."  
"Don't tell me that. The last time you told me that you spent a week in the hospital. You've been acting weirder and weirder. You're changing. So what's wrong? Logan come back or something?" Alec asked nonchalantly.   
Everything began spinning again. "Ugh not again."  
She sat up and put her head into her hands. Things settled down again and she looked up to see Alec very concerned. "No, Logan's not back. I've just been feeling off balanced lately, that's it. Why do you keep on bugging me? I just got sick for a little while, I'm getting over it, so get off my back."  
Alec grinned and his blue eyes sparkled. "Ya know, that's the first time you've actually gotten mad at me since this whole thing began."  
"Yeah well keep going and you'll find your foot in your mouth." Max growled and then tilted her head. Somebody was running water in another room.  
"What?" Alec asked with his forehead knotting.  
"You don't hear that?"  
"Hear what?"  
"The water running. It's loud enough for the dead to wake." she looked at him to see that he was completely and utterly confused. Sighing, she shook her head. "Never mind, forget it. I'm going to bed."  
"I think you're hallucinating or something. I'll see you in the morning." Alec said standing up to leave. He looked at her again and shook his head. She closed her eyes and waited for him to leave. Even though she closed her eyes, she could still feel his presence. She could see him shifting his weight and then decide to leave. What was wrong with her?  
  
"King me." Alec grinned as he moved his red piece to the other side of the board. Joshua growled and put a piece onto Alec's piece. "See Josh."  
"My name is Joshua. Not Josh." Joshua reminded him and then moved one of his pieces. Alec shrugged and then looked around the large open room. It was the main dock, it was where everyone hung around and talked. It was a place to relax.  
He saw something move quickly past his vision line towards the watch station. The thing slowed, it was Max. Was it his imagination or was that even faster than she use to be? He shook his head and went back to the board.  
"That's what I thought. Put this place on alert. Looks like White and his men are back. Alert the guards, we can't risk losing anymore people." Max's voice rang throughout the room and soon people were quickly putting things away and bringing out weapons.  
"Well guess this game is over." Alec quickly put the pieces into a bag and sealed it. Running over to the box of weaponry, he pulled out sniper and grinned. "Come to daddy."  
"Alec. Come over here. I need all group leaders over here stat. Mike get over here now." Max looked at everyone, her eyes blazed as she spoke quickly giving out directions. "Blue team go to the West end, red East, yellow North, and green South. Surround the perimeter. Keep snipers back out of sight. Bring automatics to the front. I don't want to lose one end. I'll have command of yellow. Now move out."  
Alec check his ammo and click the safety off. He watched at Max grabbed an automatic and grab a few packs of ammo. "You're going in front?"  
"Yes. Grab an automatic. Half these kids are novices. I need veterans in front. Alec, I'm trusting you with the blue team. They are a bunch of X-6's. They have enough confidence to blow the roof off. Make sure they don't get too cocky. Got that?" She cocked her weapon and looked at him again. "Don't do anything stupid. If there's anything to bad, back out. Don't get cocky. You're not expandable. Good luck."  
He nodded as she wave to a group of X-4's. The X-4's were more ready, they had been in battles before. They weren't cocky, he understood why they took the brunt of the work. The only problem was they weren't fast. Ames White could take two out easily.  
"Blue team head to the West end. If any of you gets cocky on me I'm sending you out. This isn't a time to show off. You're young and agile, but you have no experience. Pull out if you need to. Let's move out!" He said as tough as he could. He could see fear and excitement in their eyes. 


	6. White

DARK ANGEL  
  
Original Cindy watched at the Watch station. It was hard just to sit and watch, but she knew she wouldn't be a match for White's men. She could hear everything that went on. Everyone had a radio on. All the leaders had a head set so they could find out how the other fronts were doing, also to find out how well they were doing in their own fight.  
  
"Alright on my say, every one move out to the fields. Don't do anything stupid. Keep your mind clear, just like back at Manticore. Watch out, these guys are quick. On my command..." you could hear Max's heavy breathing as every group waited quietly. She whispered, "This is it."  
  
A few seconds later. "Move out!"  
  
Suddenly hundreds of soldiers ran outside to be greeted by White's men. OC watched silently praying that there would be some miracle that would let them win.  
*****  
  
Max scanned the area. White's men were everywhere. She saw a lot of them go down in surprise, but now that the surprise was over they were gaining ground again. She didn't see white anywhere, but some how she knew that he was there. She could feel it.  
  
She dodged a few people and then grabbed her knife. To her everyone moved so slowly. She could dodge the other persons kick or punch easily. Then she'd thrust into them. Some animal instinct in her grew. She didn't like it, but it was there wanting more. Born to kill, she hated it. But at times it felt great, as if she were letting something out that she didn't know she head.  
  
"Max! White is on the West end." Alec said into her ear. She looked around. Suddenly she was in another fight. She was behind Alec, watching him fight. Shaking her head she came back to reality. If she didn't get to the west end, Alec wouldn't have a chance.  
  
"Yudo." Max yelled. He looked over to her. "You're in charge, I'm going to the West end. Can you handle this?"  
  
"Yeah." He yelled and went back to the business of fighting. Taking one more scan around, she ran inside. Turning the corner, she almost slammed into the wall because she was going so fast. She ran through the corridors dodging other soldiers and went out the West end doors.  
  
Suddenly her vision focused on White. It wasn't as though she tried, it just happened. Everything else was a blur.  
  
"Max, you're here." Alec said surprised.  
  
"Didn't you ask for me to?" Max asked looking at Alec, her vision went back to normal and White was mixed in the crowd.  
  
"Kinda, but I didn't think you could have heard. I didn't say it in the radio." Alec looked puzzled. Max ducked as a bullet wizzed by her head. "How'd you do that?"  
  
"I have no clue." Max replied looking for who shot at her. The gun was in the hands of a man in a black suit and blue tie. His gun was still smoking when she found him. She ran at him and kicked his arm before he had time to move. She kicked him hard in the head and heard his neck crack.  
  
Alec came to her side a moment later. "You're scaring me."  
  
"Well as long as it works." Max shrugged. Then she kick somebody behind them who was trying to sneak up. "Sometimes I scare myself."  
  
"452 and 891, a pleasure to see you again." Ames said. Suddenly everything stopped and people moved away to let White talk. Even the transgenics stopped to listen.  
  
"Sorry, but the pleasure is all yours." Max retorted.  
  
White walked closer and then started circling the two. Max tensed a little and kept an aggressive stance. Alec did the same and watch White carefully. "Yes well, it's so sad that this conflict is about to end. Why don't you just join us and we can all defeat the humans. The world would be so much better than to have these puny little humans."  
  
"Why don't you shove that offer up your ass? I'd rather die then join your cult." Max growled.  
  
"In ten days every human will die from the asteroids that are coming down. Then there will be a new age, a great age. If you don't join us, you'll just die with them. A slow...painful...death. Either way, I will find it quite amusing." Ames White grinned.  
  
Max smiled and walked out of his circle. "You think I'm afraid of death? White you haven't done your studying. I was born to kill without feeling. I was trained not to be afraid. As for you, you are a afraid. I can smell it, I can see it. You have no control, I do. So don't tell me I'm afraid of death."  
  
"Oh, but you are. I can see it whenever I capture you. You quiver and shake like a little baby." White replied.  
  
Max stopped and looked him in the eye. Her heart pounded. "Why don't we get this over with? Talk is cheap."  
  
White got into a fighting stance and started mumbling words that she didn't understand. Suddenly she got dizzy again and White took that moment to kick her. She flew against the brick wall. Everyone began to fight again. Alec was by her side as she got up.  
  
She got back into a stance and then went to attack. It was blow by blow, none of her blows seemed to matter. Alec was blow away and now was laying on the ground unconscious. White grinned as Max held herself up from the ground.  
  
"To think that you were the prophecy that was suppose to save the world. You can't even fight." He kicked her in the face and she rolled over. "You're no better than the rest of them. Now before you die, where's my son?"  
  
Then something struck her odd. A voice far back in her head. She didn't even see the next hit coming. Holding her side, she stood up and looked at White. He came at her again and everything went in slow motion except for her. She ducked one of his punches and then kicked him hard in the side. He flew ten feet, blood rolled down his chin. Sudden terror showed in his eyes.  
  
He got back up and ran at her. Kicking, punching, she dodged them and kicked him in the side. He flew against the brick wall, going through it. She watch as he got up. She wasn't paying attention to the knife that sliced her in the side. She only felt a sharp pain. Throwing her elbow back, she connected with a solid object. The person flew back. His nose so broken that it went into his brain.  
  
White got up again, it'd be the last time he got up. She grabbed a machine gun and aimed. One bullet. He wasn't fast enough. It shattered his face. Everything turned back to speed and she dropped to her knees tired. 


	7. Last Fight

DARK ANGEL  
  
Every emotion, every feeling had slipped away from her. The violence around her meant nothing anymore. The war was still going, but she wasn't. Looking over at Alec, she got up enough strength to go help him. Rolling him over, he groaned.  
  
"Did we get him?" he mumbled.  
  
"Yeah, we got him." she replied. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"Like shit." he replied opening his eyes. "Did you know you're bleeding?"  
  
She looked at her side. She had forgotten that it was there. Blood soaked her shirt and trickled down her side. "I'll be fine. Come on lets get you to the infirmary."  
  
Just as she helped him up everyone stopped again. She looked around. An old lady stood at the gates. The old lady smiled, it was one of White's people. Max had seen her at one of the ceremonies. She was short and skinny with white hair.   
  
"Looks like White didn't do his job." Lifting her hand, tons of transgenics flew to the ground. "Well now, which is X5-452?"  
  
Max looked around tiredly and then looked back at the lady. She wasn't even sure who she was.  
  
"Come on don't be shy. I know your around here. Don't make me kill your people one by one until you come out." The lady pointed her finger at one transgenic named Riley. An energy bolt, something Max had never seen before except on Fictional TV Shows and movies, sprang out of the women's hand shocking him to death. A chill ran down her spine as the lady laughed. "Now that you know I mean business, come out before I kill another one of your friends."  
  
Nobody looked at her, she knew what they were thinking and they were right. Why sacrifice a whole army for one insignificant creature? She stood up. "Yeah what do you want?"  
  
"Ahhh, finally we meet at last." the lady grinned.  
  
"Ya see, I don't get you guys. You're ugly, you have some weird rituals and we're more human than you." Max waited in a ready stance. There was no real point to this, there was no way she could defeat someone who could do so much damage with a flick of a finger. "So what's your deal?"  
  
"Brave I see." she frowned.  
  
"Guess you haven't done your homework either. We were trained to do that." Max shrugged. "So you going to get one with it or not?"  
  
The lady smiled again and walked closer to Max. Alec groaned and stood up behind her. Then he whispered in her ear. "Max, do you know what you're doing?"  
  
"No." Max replied quietly right before the first shock wave made her mind go numb.  
  
* * * * *  
Alec watch horrified as the battle continued. Everything around them was a blur. Max was puny to this lady, she had no chance. Yet Max kept getting up time after time, blow after blow. He was amazed she wasn't killed by the first bolt like Riley had been. The lady seemed to be amazed too, she even looked a little frightened.  
  
When the lady flipped her hand a forth time, nothing came out, it was Max's turn to smile. She kicked the lady in the head knocking her to the ground. Another kick sent her rolling across the field. Then a bolt flew across the field towards Max. Instead of waiting for it to hit her, she put her hands together out in front of her. The bolt hit the center of her palms and reflected.  
  
"Damn." he whispered shaking his head and wondering if he had just gone crazy.  
  
The bolt went straight after the lady and hit her in the chest making her fly into the air. She hit the ground again and slowly pulled herself up. "You will not get away with that."  
  
Instead of bringing out another lightning bolt, a fire ball came out. Max put her hands out again. Amazingly she caught it and threw it back. Her hands were burnt, but she was okay. The old lady dodged the fire ball and sent two more. They froze in the middle of the two and dropped to the ground creating a mass explosion. Max was blown all the way back to where he was standing.  
  
"Max?" he asked.  
  
She wasn't listening. In fact, it looked as though she was listening to something else. "Bahee, Clamah."  
  
Blue light shot from her hands in a large beam coasting over to all of Whites men. Somehow it missed all the transgenics. The men and women screamed and caught on fire. They dropped like flies and only the old lady was left. Max stood up and looked towards the lady.  
  
"All your men are gone. You are out numbered, what are you going to do?" Max growled.  
  
"You think you can get away with this?" the old lady laughed. "I'm only getting started."  
  
A thing red beam skimmed the land having the same effect on the transgenics. If Alec didn't move out of the way soon, he'd be fried. Just as he was about to make a run for it, Max put her hands out stopping the beam. The old lady frowned and tried harder, but nothing happened.  
  
"Blast you." the lady sneered and Max was on fire. Only for a second though, some how it stopped.   
  
"It's the end..."Max whispered, "Jahee Glandee miciah."   
  
The old lady blew up in front of his own eyes. It was as if there was a bomb inside her and she blew up. Nothing was left of her. As if a string had been cut, Max dropped to the ground and everything was silent.  
  
Alec ran over to her. "Max? Max?"  
  
Opening her eyes she gave a painful smile. "Gee, now all we have to worry about is the humans huh?"  
  
He laughed softly. "Yeah, I guess. Let's get you to a doctor." 


	8. Healing

Choices Made  
  
Original Cindy walked into the hospital room with balloons and some flowers. Max was in bed looking out the window biting her nails. Gauze was wrapped around her hands and waist. "Hey boo, looks like you're doing better."  
  
"Yeah." Max grinned. Pointing to the balloons and flowers, she reminded OC, "You know I don't like all this stuff."  
  
"Hey boo, Original Cindy is going to get her girl what she wants to get her." OC grinned putting them on a table. "So really, how ya doing? Feeling better?"  
  
"Doc said I had four broken ribs, my liver was failing, I sprained my ankle, and I had 3rd degree burns on my hands. He asked me what happened. I told him I fell off my motorcycle. I don't think he believed me but hey, what can a girl do?" Max shrugged. "Now my livers fine and he says I'm a walking miracle. I guess that sums it up."  
  
"Dang boo, I order you at least three days of rest before I'll even let you get out the bed. Then you can't get back to doing anything for a month, maybe even two." OC shook her head as if she were punishing her daughter.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not allowed to leave the hospital for three days." Max laughed and then winced holding her side. "Don't make me laugh, it hurts."  
  
OC grinned, it was the first time in a long time since her boo had laughed. It was a good thing. "Well if you didn't always get into nasty fights then..."  
  
"Then we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place, now would we?" Alec came in, the only thing that showed that he had been into anything rough was a small scratch on his forehead that one could barely see. He grinned and sat in one of the chairs next to the bed. "Now what's all the commotion?"  
  
"Original Cindy was just telling me that I can't get out of bed for the rest of my life." Max grinned. "That's going to make life pretty hard."  
  
Alec nodded and looked as if he were about to ask something. He stopped and then sighed. "Now that White's gone, everything's pretty easy to handle. So, you don't need to be in a rush to get out."  
  
"You know what? I've done my fight, you guys can handle the humans." Max sighed laying back on her pillow. "But I was wondering, what happened on the other ends?"  
  
"You kinda killed 'em." Alec said shrugging. "That blue thingy did the trick. How come you didn't do that earlier, would have saved time."  
  
Max was about to say something and then refrained. Shrugging, she went back to looking out the window. "Think the humans will ever accept us?"  
  
"Well they made us..." Alec replied slicking back his hair.   
  
"Yeah and we saved their asses. No credit though cause nobody knows. We need more people who appreciate us, it'd be a hell of a lot easier." Max shook her head.  
  
"Yeah, but then what would you do Max? You'd be terribly bored." OC reminded her. "Aren't I right Alec?"  
  
"I just have one question." Alec said totally ignoring what OC had just said. "How the hell did you do that?"  
  
Max shrugged again. "Not really sure my self. Something to do with Sandaman. Who knows what he did and why it took so long for me to learn. I'm just glad I learned it in time. Who knows what would have happened if I didn't know how to do it."  
  
"I'm glad we don't have to find out." OC sighed.  
  
"You don't still hate me for getting you into this do you?" Max looked over to Alec. "It was going to happen sometime. I might have stirred it up quicker, but it would have happened."  
  
"Nah, I've gotten over it. As long as I'm alive, you're alive, and Original Cindy's alive I think I'm okay. Just don't get me into anything else." Alec grinned. Max laughed and then cried at the same time.  
  
"Didn't I tell you not to make me laugh. It hurts." Max said between breaths.  
  
"Yes sir." Alec saluted.  
  
Original Cindy watched the two talk and joke. It was strange to see two people who had their childhoods' taken from them. She couldn't relate. They were like in another dimension, a whole different type. Partially they were. They made up with their childhoods by being more playful. She didn't feel sorry for them though. That's not what they wanted. They wanted people to understand them. To understand that they have feelings. But how could you not see the emotions as they played around with each other taking little jabs? They had a dark past... it still shadowed their lives, but they made the best of it. To her, Max was a dark angel. A girl who had a dark past, yet looked after everyone like an angel.   
  
"I say after we finish with this, we all go out and party. Get a few beers and chill." Max grinned.  
  
"I'm all for that." Alec agreed. The two looked over at OC.  
  
"Why not? I'll buy." OC nodded. 


End file.
